"
There were also many other noble mansions lying westward, amongst
them being those of the Dukes of Ormond and Norfolk in St.
James's Square, which was built at this time; Berkeley House,
which stood on the site now occupied by Berkeley Square, a
magnificent structure containing a staircase of cedar wood, and
great suites of lofty rooms; Leicester House, situated in
Leicester Fields, subsequently known as Leicester Square, behind
which stretched a goodly common; Goring House, "a very pretty
villa furnished with silver jars, vases, cabinets, and other rich
furniture, even to wantonnesse and profusion," on the site of
which Burlington Street now stands; Clarendon House, a princely
residence, combining "state, use, solidity, and beauty,"
surrounded by fair gardens, that presently gave place to Bond
Street; Southampton House, standing, as Evelyn says, in "a noble
piazza--a little town," now known as Bloomsbury Square, whose
pleasant grounds commanded a full view of the rising hills of
Hampstead and Highgate; and Montagu House, described as a palace
built in the French fashion, standing on the ground now occupied
by the British Museum, which in this reign was backed by lonely
fields, the dread scenes of "robbery, murder, and every species
of depravity and wickedness of which the heart can think."
Besides the grounds and gardens surrounding these stately
mansions, a further aspect of space and freshness was added to
the capital by public parks.
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